TO. HTSTOTIY 305
from those most likely to know the characters of the most prominent actors could make it. In the composition of the Si&cle de Louis XY. he had of course the advantage of knowing all these leaders of the public activity personally and at first hand, while if he had not that advantage to the same extent in the Si&cle de Louis XIV., he at least mixed on intimate terms with many who had been intimate with the court of the great monarch. For the History of Eussia he was amply provided with documents and authentic narratives from the Eussian court, at whose solicitation he undertook a work which was the first full introduction of that hitherto barbarous and unknown country to the literature of civilised Europe. His letters to Schouvalof, the imperial chamberlain, attest the unremitting industry with which he sought for every kind of information that might be useful to him. 'The enlightened spirit which now reigns among the principal nations of Europe, requires that we should go to the bottom, where in former times a historian barely thought it worth while to skim the surface. People wish to know how a nation grew together; what was its population before the epoch of which you treat; the difference in the number of the regular army then and in former times; the nature and growth of its commerce; what arts have sprung up within the country, and what have been introduced from elsewhere and been perfected there; what used to be the ordinary average revenue of the state, and what it is now; the birth and extension of its z Louis XV^ 1768 ; lli&nrt dn I'tirlnntnt de jparis, 1769. li.p. 344. See also ^1